Upper Glenner River, a side creek of the Vorderrhein

(the gorge, pic by Alex)

On the Upper Glenner river, a side creek of the Vorderrhein, there's a
sweet run between two classical sections. Not too often people run this,
because some breathtaking portages make you work. When the snowmelting
time is over, there's still enough water in this section and thats why
it counts as one of just a few cool whitewater runs in summertime in its
area.

(Team nookie-look, pic by Alex)

This day Ron Fischer and Alex Keller found some perfect conditions to
run it. The section "Lumbrein" offers all you need for a long
afternoon-creek: A thin deep gorge that's hard and only at a few spots
to leave makes every step more serious, some really cool class 5 rapids,
and a horrorable portage if you don't want to run the keyrapid -
that's probably even more dangerous then just running it...(ask Alex
why) And after all that, there waits a nice paddle-out with some class 4
rapids that you just can paddle all on sight and enjoy.

(entry drop, pic by Ron)
(portage stuff, pic by Ron)
(key drops, pic by Alex)
(key drops, pic by Alex)
(key drops, pic by Alex)

(exit drop, pic by Ron)
(exit drop, pic by Ron)


(exit drop, pic by Alex)

Alex Keller & Ron Fischer
Nookie Team Riderz

R+D

We love hanging out with our Team Riderz on the water in awesome locations, but we also love it when they pop in for a cup of tea.
Last week saw Team Rider Doug Cooper mission his way to head office to meet all the peeps and share some product design ideas. All our Team Riderz play a critical part in Nookie R+D from giving feedback on the kit they wear every day and offering up ideas on new designs.
Doug has been bending my ear about buoyancy aid designs for months, so this visit was a perfect opportunity for him and I to pool our ideas together...
















The day was a success and we sent Doug away with a prototype that included nearly all of his ideas with the addition of some practicalities to put it all together : )

Here it is:




















Sorry, that's all we can show you for now : )

The Swiss Alps & Don Ron

A few weeks ago, i had another weekend full of water here in the Swiss Alps. Because of lot's of snow in the late winter, we have had the best spring season since i started kayaking.


With my good friend Luke Wielatt we went to the upper parts of the famous river Reuss. This river has a lot of beautiful sections like the "Schöllenengorge" or the "Gurtnellen", but they're only runnable in spring or after rain because of the many f..... dam's we have.

This weekend the flow was perfect for that runs, but we wanted to check out some new creeks which are coming down from the Gotthard- and Furka- Pass. The road on the riversides are steep and make one 180degree-turn to the next. Normally, rivers beside roads like those have too much gradient, but not these ones. What we found, was much better than i could believe! Un-countable drops and slides and all of them good to go!


The "Gusbisreuss" and "Wittenwasserenreuss" showed us a perfect playground for steep creeking. Thank's! The pictures above show you why i like these rivers.

Don Ron

Yet Another Nookie Adventure

First pile your car high with toys courtesy of Wavesport and Nookie then put on your favourite Nookie sweater (almost forget your paddles) & drink fifteen cans of Red Bull.
One ferry trip and sixteen hours later i had arrived in Plattling East Germany . with sweet water levels i figured a week should be plenty to brush up on my hole skills. Plattling is famous for its warm water and half naked chicks sunning themselves on the bank.

After re-aquaintinging myself with the wave i started on a mission to get back loop Mc nasty’s down.
By day two the weather was 32 degrees and scolding and by then all the other English boys had arrived and had started putting their tents up.
The tents looked oh so bland so i set about cheering every one up by Nookieing every tent with a stencil and a can of red graph paint.
The week drew to an end, averaging 9 hours a day on the wave.............. i needed a break.


It started to rain.... solidly. With rising river levels we had to get to Austria and fast. I had a gut feeling that before long the wave at Crazy Eddy’s would be good to stomp some big moves on .
Arriving at Prutz it was obvious that the Inn was close to bursting with a mass of brown swollen water swirling past.
Every one got some pizza and then climbed in to our newly Nookied tents and slept .

Day break and we were chomping at the bit to get down some rivers. First on the list was the Tosens section on the Inn. As half the water was snow melt and bloody freezing it was perfect timing to do a little RnD on the Nookie Softcore and hell did i need it. The cold from the water could be felt from the bank. Wishing i was in Uganda i peeled out and then spent the next hour and a half throwing wave wheels , macho moves and down river kick flips down what could only be described as a farm of big waves, this must be where they are born. With no big holes we stomped the river just in time for friend Fraggle to return from hospital after previously cracking his head open on a down time mission. Imst to hamming was next on the list. This section has a huge catchment area for water so un-surprisingly it was huge perfect for catching waves on the fly and getting more air with some down river tricks. Thank god for my Nookie Airhead cag, without it i would have been sweating my nuts off. As we got off the river i couldn’t help feeling sorry for every one in their heavy drysuits. Well after what seemed to be a another rodeo session i retired to bed. Morning bought a quick blast down the Shults gorge.

By now i was getting sick of wave trains and rock dodging. I wanted a wave and a big one at that. Arriving at Crazy Eddys i legged it on to the bridge and to my delight a monster sized bowl shaped wave had formed just down stream of the bridge. Now this wave you have to share with surfers and as in Munich they aren’t to keen on kayakers. My first ride a nice warm up getting the feel for the wave and my surroundings


Sitting in the Eddy was like waiting for the nurse to give you a reboot of morphine, finally the surfer was off and i was out of the eddy like a shot, high contrast blaring out of the ipod, touch down, one super fast steep acceleration and i was plaining. First trick climbing to the top of the wave i loaded my rail with a big chunk of water and headed out on to the shoulder, aggressive edge change supplied me with a sweet amount of air. Thinking i'm going to have me some of those apples i chucked a sic clean Panam, with a smooth landing after that it was plain sailing. After a manic 300 ride, two day session at Crazy Eddys the guys had to eventually tear me away by reminding me it was time to go visit fellow Nookie ambassador James Weir.
We rocked up in Switzerland just in time for it to start raining. Jim arrived at the camp site which was situated just outside Carara and we got down to a good old fashioned Thames valley style tale gate party in Jim's Nookie bus. With rivers nice and high James set about taking us on some of the better rivers the first i cant remember the name but it starts with a nice 4 metre fall and then your in, from then on in its moderate volume class 4 hole and rock dodging. The day ended with smiles all round and a bbq. Day two bought more river fun.
Finally it was time to say goodbye to James Weir and be on our way to Leon France. Upon arrival i shot to the airport to pick up Dan Fellow Rocket Boy, then we zipped to the wave. The wave was running and at about 1700, well after far too much driving i crashed out and let the boys play .
H.S.R is one of those waves that feel like you are being pulled down the high way at 90 behind a Ferrari. Three days of rocket launcher style riding and it was time to head home .


Mission accomplished.
Many thanks to Nookie Kayaking Equipment, Wavesport kayaks, Streamlight paddles & Marsport.